760 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 12 



the apothecary's, for a lew cenis per pound, anil 

 the experiment nnay be tried, and if good effects 

 described above, are corroboraied, it certainly will 

 be a valuable auxiliary. If it proves to be of no 

 worth, still the experiment will be valuable as re- 

 futiuij; the above statement, and proving that the 

 r.'sulis obtained by Mr. Dubuc must be attributed 

 to somelhinf; else. 



from tlie Farmers' Cabinet. 

 IMPROVING A WORN OUT SOIL. 



Since my last essay was sent to the Cabinet, 1 

 have been engaged in the agreeable hardship oi 

 harvesting a heavy crop of irrain and hav, which, 

 with other engaixements, has deprived me of lei- 

 sure sufficient to examine an additional lot of horns 

 which [ desitjried to do, previous to sending anv 

 further statement of facts to the Cabinet. As an 

 apoiosry, therefore, ofthis neglect, I will transcribe 

 from my Farm Ledo-er, a three year's history of 

 an old worn out field, being part of a farm pur- 

 chased in 1834. 



This field, in the spring of 1835. presented one 

 of the most dreary prospects to the eye of the far- 

 mer that can well be imairined. Corn had been 

 the last crop, which was estimated at seven bushels 

 to the acre, and the whole amount of verdure then 

 upon the field appeared insufacient for half a do- 

 zen sheep the summer season, and not as much 

 manure in the barn yard as would dress a common 

 sized garden. Every thing necessary to improve 

 this field had to be purchased; it was. therefore, 

 no difficult matter to know the expense. The ma 

 nure is ail carried out at the cost delivered upon 

 .the field, and the field is credited with all the pro- 

 'duce, except the pasture, at the cash prices in Wil- 

 mington, about 1^ miles distant. 



Per Contra. Cr. 



18.35. FIELD, No, 3. Dr. 



1st mo. 1. 



500 bushels of lime 



at 20 cents, $100 00 



150 cart loads of 

 manure at ^1 25 

 per load, 187 50 



200 bu. of bone dust 

 at.30cts.per bu. 



100 bu. of e;round 

 oyster shells, 



75 cart loads of ma- 

 nure at $1 25, 



Clover and timo- 

 thy seed, 



15 bu. seed wheat. 



Cost of 10 acres of 

 land, 



60 00 



15 00 



93 75 



12 00 

 22 50 



480 00 



$970 75 



1835. 



300 bu. of corn at 



80 cents, $240 00 



175 bu. of potatoes 



at 30 cents, 52 50 



1838. 

 96^ bu. of wheat 



at $2 00, 193 00 



10 loads of corn- 

 fodder. 15 00 

 9 loads of wheat 



straw, 18 00 



3 montbs pasture 



for 8 cattle, 24 25 



1837. 

 31 i tons of hay at 



$14 00, 437 50 



$980 25 



The interest account against the field is not car- 

 ried out, but the second crop now growing will con- 

 siderably more than balance it, leaving the field to 

 stand against the labor of cultivating three crops 

 and taking them to market. It will be seen that 

 the profits of this operation have all grown out of 

 the manure. I have been thus particular, in order 

 to obtain a knowledge of the value of worn out 

 lands in the vacinity of manure. Stone lime can 

 be had from the Schuylkill, and leeched ashee, 

 bone dust, glue xBakers" oftal. combmakers" shav- 



ings, and other kinds of strong manure will bear 

 shipping from Phihidelphia and Baltimore, up the 

 creeks and inlets of the Delaware and Chesapeake 

 bay. More again on this subject. 



Subscriber. 



Communicated for the Farmers' Register. 



REPORT OIV THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE 

 ROANOKE RIVER, FOR SLACK WATER STEAM 

 NAVIGATION. 



To the Board nf Public Works of Virginia. 



Gentlemen: The duty which your honorable 



body was [ileased to assign me, I commenced in 



the beginning of last August, in accordance with 



the instructions contained in the following clause 



of an act of the legislature passsed 23d March: 



"That the Board of Public Works be, and they 



are hereby instructed to cause a survey to be made 



Ity some competent engineer, during (he ensuing 



summer, of the Dan river from its confluence with 



the fStaunum river to the town of Danville, and of 



!h(>' Staunton river from the same point to the tovi-n 



of Brookneal in Campbell county, and of the 



great Roanoke fi^om Rocklanding to the confln- 



: ence of the Dan and Staunton rivers aibresaid; lor 



I the purpose of ascertaining whether the said rivers 



j may be rendered susceptible of steamboat naviga- 



; tion; anrl that the said engineer do report lo the 



Board of Public Works, whether it be practicable 



to render the said rivers so navigable, and the 



probable cost thereof. 



The Roanoke river from Rocklanding in North 

 Carolina, to the confluence of the Dan and Staun- 

 ton rivers in Virginia, has a fall of 156 jV^^^ feet, 

 and the distance by the line of survey is 55 miles 

 5066 feet. 



This river is, in general, of considerable width; 

 in some places extending three quarters of a 

 mile; fi-om an average of eleven places of trian- 

 gulation at the most favorable places for narrow- 

 ness, and foundations suitable lor the contem- 

 plated work, the width was found lo be 360 yards; 

 the general width need not however be considered 

 under four hundred yards. The bottom consists 

 mostly of solid rock; the wide and shoally por- 

 tions are very shallow during a drought, of which 

 I had ample demonstration; and from informaiion 

 obtained during the survey, from some of the 

 oldest settlers, I learned that the water of the 

 river had in no instance been so low, during the 

 last thirty years. In other parts, the river is 

 highly favorable, and requires but little atlificial 

 aid to effect its improvement; and in overcoming 

 the more serious difficulties it may be necessaiy 

 to cover the bed of some portions of the river, 

 with more than the requisite depth of water, in 

 order perhaps to cover a small shoal, or reach a 

 point desirable for the erection of the contem- 

 plated works. Notwithstanding the considerable 

 width of the river, the remarkably favorable nat- 

 ural foundations for the erection of dams, will ren- 

 der the latter not only easy of construction, but 

 also of sufficient stability. The abutments will 

 be of proportionably less expense, the greater the 

 width of the river may be. Such descriptions ol" 

 work requiring to be constructed higher in propor- 

 tion, as the river becomes narrower. 



I consider a sluice, or any part of a sluice navi- 

 gation, to be entirely unsuitable for sdamboais, 



